India saw spike in mental health cases due to lockdown: AIIMS doctor

NEW DELHI: In India, the ratio between psychiatrists and patients still remains poor and amidst the pandemic, issues pertaining to mental health and depression have witnessed a rise across all age groups.

In order to bridge this gap and make mental health care accessible to all, the MHFI (Mental Health Foundation India) launched a web portal MiHOPE that will have medical experts across the country, directly communicate with those who need counselling via telepsychiatry, tele-counseling and holistic individual wellness (emphasising on yoga, physical activities, and nutrition among others).

“Apart from having less number of psychiatrists, in India a major problem is the uneven distribution of experts. In Delhi there may be 120 doctors, while in Arunchal Pradesh less than 10 and in interiors of Uttar Pradesh may be no doctor is available. Stigma is another factor, people hesitate to approach a psychiatrist. Online, people can directly communicate with experts from home,” said Dr Nand Kumar, professor of Psychiatry, AIIMS.

Dr Kumar added that lockdown phase saw a sudden rise in patients approaching with mental health concerns.

While in some cases, such issues are momentary, those already having problems may have symptoms exacerbarated over the period.

“People have developed symptoms such as depression and insomnia. These are natural... many people lost jobs, lost family members. Never before have people faced such a situation. All of a sudden, people had to work from home and spend more time with family which was not comfortable for all,” he added.

“Mental health issues were a major cause of suffering and contributed greatly to the global burden of disease long before the pandemic. The collective experience of the pandemic only exacerbated the much felt symptoms of poor mental health. Furthermore, general access to health care and especially mental health care was massively impacted and hampered,” he stated.